I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "Blessed is the one who saw me, and blessed is the one who believed in me without having seen me. Blessed is he, and excellent is his final return."
سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول: طوبى لمن رآني، وطوبى لمن آمن بي ولم يرني، وطوبى له وحسن مآب.
Yaqub bin Sufyan narrated it in Marifa wal-Tarikh (2/351) from Adam bin Abu Iyas, and Diya in Mukhtara (9/98–99) from another route from Adam, and also from the narration of Dawud bin Rashid, both of them from Baqiya, who said, Muhammad bin Abdul-Rahman Yahsubi narrated to us, I heard Abdullah bin Busr, and he related it. Its chain is hasan because of Baqiya bin Walid, for his hadith is hasan when he states his source explicitly.Similar in meaning is what was reported from Yusuf bin Abdullah bin Salam, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was asked, "Are we better, or those who come after us?" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "If one of them were to spend the weight of a mountain in gold, it would not equal the mudd of one of you, nor half of it." Ahmad reported it in his Musnad (23835) from Hasan bin Musa, who said, Ibn Lahia narrated to us, Bukayr bin Ashaj narrated to us, from Yusuf bin Abdullah bin Salam who said, and he related it. There is well-known criticism of Ibn Lahia.Similar in meaning is also what was reported from Anas, who said, there was an exchange of words between Khalid bin Walid and Abdul-Rahman bin Awf. Khalid said to Abdul-Rahman, "You boast over us because of days in which you preceded us." We were told that this was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ, and he said, "Leave my companions to me. By the One in whose hand is my soul, if you were to spend the equivalent of Uhud, or the equivalent of the mountains, in gold, you would not reach their deeds." Ahmad reported it (13812), saying, Ahmad bin Abdul-Malik narrated to us, Zuhayr narrated to us, Humayd Tawil narrated to us, from Anas who said, and he related it. This hadith with this chain was asked about of Abu Hatim, who said, "This is a mistake. It is actually Humayd from Hasan, from the Prophet ﷺ, as a mursal report." See Ilal al-Hadith by his son (2590).His saying "the mudd of one of them" refers to a known unit of measure. His saying "nasif" means half.As for what was reported from Jabir bin Abdullah, who said, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "The Fire will not touch a Muslim who saw me, or who saw one who saw me," this is daif. Tirmidhi reported it (3858), and Ibn Abu Asim in Sunnah (1525), both from the hadith of Musa bin Ibrahim bin Kathir Ansari, who said, I heard Talha bin Kharash say, I heard Jabir bin Abdullah say, and he related it. Tirmidhi said after it, "This hadith is hasan gharib. We do not know it except from the hadith of Musa bin Ibrahim Ansari, and Ali bin Madini and more than one scholar of hadith reported this hadith from this Musa." I say, Musa bin Ibrahim bin Kathir was deemed reliable by no one except Ibn Hibban, who mentioned him in Thiqat (7/449) and said, "He was among those who made mistakes." This is one of the things in which he erred, given the presence of a defect in the text. More than one scholar has said that Talha bin Kharash reported problematic narrations from Jabir.On this subject there is also a report from Abdullah bin Mughafal, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Allah, Allah, regarding my companions. Do not make them a target after me. Whoever loves them, loves them because of loving me, and whoever hates them, hates them because of hating me, and whoever harms them has harmed me, and whoever harms me has harmed Allah, and whoever harms Allah is about to be seized by Him." Tirmidhi reported it (3862), and Ahmad (16803), and Ibn Hibban (7256), all of them from the hadith of Ubayda bin Abu Raytah, from Abdul-Rahman bin Ziyad, from Abdullah bin Mughafal, and he related it. Tirmidhi said, "This hadith is gharib. We do not know it except from this route," meaning by that, daif. For Abdul-Rahman bin Ziyad, also said to be Abdullah bin Abdul-Rahman, and other names have also been given for him, Bukhari said of him after this narration, "There is something questionable about him." Despite this, Ibn Hibban mentioned him in Thiqat, and for that reason Hafiz said, "Acceptable," meaning when corroborated. I did not find any corroboration for him, so his hadith is weak.On this subject there is also a report from Ayesha, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Do not curse my companions. May Allah curse whoever curses my companions." Tabarani reported it in Awsat (5/378, no. 4768) from Abdul-Rahman bin Husayn Sabuni, who said, Ali bin Sahl Madaini narrated to us, Abu Asim Dahhak bin Makhlad narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from Ataa, from Ayesha, and she related it. Tabarani said after it, "No one reported this hadith from Ibn Jurayj except Abu Asim, and Ali bin Sahl transmitted it alone." I say, Ali bin Sahl Madaini was deemed reliable by no one. As for Ibn Jurayj, he stated explicitly that when he said "he said" or "from Ataa," he had indeed heard from him.